多特信经Canons and Decrees of the Synod ofDordt (1619)
多特信经
Canons and Decrees of the Synod ofDordt (1619)
（洛杉矶华⼈改⾰宗恩约教会译版）
第三与第四项教义
论人的败坏、回转归向上帝，以及回转的途径
The Third and Fourth Main
Points of Doctrine
Human Corruption to God, and
the Way It Occurs
第一条、堕落在人性上的影响
人原是照上帝的形像造的，在他的思想充满对他的创造主和属灵的事真实有益的知识，在他的意志和内心公义，在他一切的情感纯洁，诚然，整个人是圣洁的。但是，他受到魔鬼的试探用自己的自由意志背叛了上帝，使自己丧失了这些美好的恩赐。反使自己陷入可怕的的光景：心眼盲目、黑暗虚空、虚空错谬，他的思想判断扭曲；他的内心和意志邪恶、叛逆、顽梗；他一切的情感充满不洁。
Article
1: The Effect of the Fall on Human Nature
Man
was originally created in the image of God and was furnished in his mind with a
true and salutary knowledge of his Creator and things spiritual, in his will
and heart with righteousness, and in all his emotions with purity; indeed, the
whole man was holy. However, rebelling against God at the devil’s instigation
and by his own free will, he deprived himself of these outstanding gifts.
Rather, in their place he brought upon himself blindness, terrible darkness,
futility, and distortion of judgment in his mind; perversity, defiance, and
hardness in his heart and will; and finally impurity in all his emotions.
第二条、败坏的散布
堕落后，人生育的儿女与自己有相同本性。人本身既是败坏的，所生的儿女也是败坏的。按照上帝公义的审判，这败坏从亚当散布到他的每个后裔——唯有基督除外——不是通过模仿（这是古时的伯拉纠主义的观点），而是通过邪恶本性的繁衍。
Article
2: The Spread of Corruption
Man
brought forth children of the same nature as himself after the fall. That is to
say, being corrupt he brought forth corrupt children. The corruption spread, by
God’s just judgment, from Adam to all his descendants — except for Christ alone
— not by way of imitation (as in former times the Pelagians would have it) but
by way of the propagation of his perverted nature.
第三条、全然无能
因此，所有人都在罪中成孕，生下来便是可怒之子，不能行任何善事使自己得救，倾向邪恶，死在罪中，是罪的奴仆；如果没有圣灵重生的恩典，他们就既不愿也不能归向上帝，改正自己扭曲的本性，甚至也不想改正。
Article
3: Total Inability
Therefore,
all people are conceived in sin and are born children of wrath, unfit for any
saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, and slaves to sin; without
the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit they are neither willing nor able to
return to God, to reform their distorted nature, or even to dispose themselves
to such reform.
第四条、自然之光的不足
当然，人堕落之后，依旧有一些自然之光在他里面还留下，使他保留了对上帝、自然之事、善恶之别的一些知识，表现出对美德、外表善行的一些热心。但是这自然之光远不足使人对上帝产生得救的知识并回转归向祂——甚至人在自然和社会事务上也不能正确使用这自然之光。相反，人用各种办法全力扭曲这光，用不义抵挡它。这样做，人便在上帝面没有任何脱罪的借口。
Article
4: The Inadequacy of the Light of Nature
There
is, to be sure, a certain light of nature remaining in man after the fall, by
virtue of which he retains some notions about God, natural things, and the
difference between what is moral and immoral, and demonstrates a certain
eagerness for virtue and for good outward behavior. But this light of nature is
far from enabling man to come to a saving knowledge of God and to him — so far, in fact, that man does not
use it rightly even in matters of nature and society. Instead, in various ways
he completely distorts this light, whatever its precise character, and
suppresses it in unrighteousness. In doing so he renders himself without excuse
before God.
第五条、律法的不足
对于自然之光是如此，同样，对于上帝藉摩西之手赐给犹太人的十诫也是如此。因为人无法通过十诫获得得救的恩典，因为尽管律法的确显明人的罪何等重大，使人更加知罪，但是它既没有提供拯救的办法，也没有赐人能力脱离罪恶的苦境；律法既然因着肉体而软弱有所不能行，就使犯罪者落在咒诅之下。
Article
5: The Inadequacy of the Law
In
this respect, what is true of the light of nature is true also of the Ten
Commandments given by God through Moses specifically to the Jews. For man
cannot obtain saving grace through the Decalogue, because, although it does
expose the magnitude of his sin and increasingly convict him of his guilt, yet
it does not offer a remedy or enable him to escape from his misery, and,
indeed, weakened as it is by the flesh, leaves the offender under the curse.
第六条、福音拯救的大能
因此，那自然之光和律法所不能行的事，上帝则藉圣灵的大能，透过圣道或者和好的消息成就了。这就是关于弥赛亚的福音，上帝乐意用它拯救一切相信的人， 不论在旧约或新约时期。
Article
6: The Saving Power of the Gospel
What,
therefore, neither the light of nature nor the law can do, God accomplishes by
the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word or the ministry of
reconciliation. This is the gospel about the Messiah, through which it has
pleased God to save believers, in both the Old and the New Testament.
第七条、上帝在显明福音时的自由
在旧约时，上帝这旨意的奥秘只向少数人显明；在新约时，祂将自己启示给许多人，不分种族，没有区别。上帝这样安排，不是因为这民族比那民族更优越，也不是因为这民族比那民族更善用自然之光，而是完全因为上帝自由的美意，和那我们原本不配得的爱。因此，那些领受如此大恩典的人，远超过他们所配得的，就应当存心谦卑感恩；与使徒一同敬爱上帝，而不要心存好奇，窥探上帝审判那些未蒙恩典之人的严厉和公义。
第八条、福音真诚的呼召
然而，一切透过福音被召的人，都是真诚的被召。因为上帝在祂的话语中，严肃且极其真诚的表明祂所喜悦的事：一切蒙召的人都到祂这里来。此外，祂也真诚的应许将灵魂的安息和永生赐给一切来到祂面前、相信祂的人。
Article
7: God’s Freedom in Revealing the Gospel
In
the Old Testament, God revealed this secret of his will to a small number; in
the New Testament (now without any distinction between peoples) he discloses it
to a large number. The reason for this difference must not be ascribed to the
greater worth of one nation over another, or to a better use of the light of
nature, but to the free good pleasure and undeserved love of God. Therefore,
those who receive so much grace, beyond and in spite of all they deserve, ought
to acknowledge it with humble and thankful hearts; on the other hand, with the
apostle they ought to adore (but certainly not inquisitively search into) the
severity and justice of God’s judgments on the others, who do not receive this
grace.
Article
8: The Serious Call of the Gospel
Nevertheless,
all who are called through the gospel are called seriously. For seriously and
most genuinely God makes known in his Word what is pleasing to him: that those
who are called should come to him. Seriously he also promises rest for their
souls and eternal life to all who come to him and believe.
第九条、拒绝福音是人自己的责任
事实是许多通过福音被呼召的人，拒绝来到上帝面前，没有回转归回，但错不在于福音，也不在于透过福音赐给他们的基督，也不在于那位用福音呼召人、赐给他们诸般恩典的上帝，而在于他们自己。有些人在自我安全中不领受生命之道；有些人虽然接受这道，但不认真对待，只是暂时相信、当下欢喜，很快就失去信心而跌倒；还有些人用各样的思虑烦扰和今生享乐，把这道的种子给挤住了，不能结实。这是我们的救主在撒种的比喻中教导的（太十三）。
Article
9: Human Responsibility for Rejecting the Gospel
The
fact that many who are called through the ministry of the gospel do not come
and are not brought to conversion must not be blamed on the gospel, nor on
Christ, who is offered through the gospel, nor on God, who calls them through
the gospel and even bestows various gifts on them, but on the people themselves
who are called. Some in self-assurance do not even entertain the Word of life;
others do entertain it but do not take it to heart, and for that reason, after
the fleeting joy of a temporary faith, they relapse; others choke the seed of
the Word with the thorns of life’s cares and with the pleasures of the world
and bring forth no fruits. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower
(Matt. 13).
第十条、人的回转是上帝的工作
有人蒙福音呼召就来到上帝面前回转，这并不归功于人，仿佛是因为他们善用自由选择，与其他同样蒙受信心和归主的恩典的人不同（这是骄傲的伯拉纠主义异端教导的）。不，这必须归功于上帝：正如上帝从万古之先，就在基督里拣选属祂的人，又在时间中有效地呼召他们，赐给他们信心和悔改的心，拯救他们脱离黑暗的权势， 把他们迁到祂爱子的国度里，使他们可以宣扬那召他们出黑暗入奇妙光明者的美德，不以自己夸口，而是指着主夸口，正如使徒常常在圣经各处所见证的。
Article
10: Conversion as the Work of God
The
fact that others who are called through the ministry of the gospel do come and
are brought to conversion must not be credited to man, as though one
distinguishes himself by free choice from others who are furnished with equal
or sufficient grace for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius
maintains). No, it must be credited to God: just as from eternity he chose his
own in Christ, so within time he effectively calls them, grants them faith and
repentance, and, having rescued them from the dominion of darkness, brings them
into the kingdom of his Son, in order that they may declare the wonderful deeds
of him who called them out of darkness into this marvelous light, and may boast
not in themselves, but in the Lord, as apostolic words frequently testify in
Scripture.
第十一条、圣灵在人回转中的工作
此外，当上帝在祂选民身上成就祂的美意时，或说在他们内心里生发真回转时，上帝不但使他们经由外界管道听到福音，使他们的思想被圣灵大大光照，可以明白并分辨上帝属灵的事；而且，通过那同一位使人重生的圣灵的有效工作，祂还进入人内心最深处，使封闭的心敞开、刚硬的心软化，未受割礼的心受割礼。祂把新的属性注入到意志中，使死去的意志活过来，使邪恶的变良善，悖逆的变顺服，顽固的变温柔；祂激活并坚固意志，使它像一棵好树，结出好行为的果子。
Article
11: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Conversion
Moreover,
when God carries out this good pleasure in his chosen ones, or works true
conversion in them, he not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to
them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that
they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but,
by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, he also penetrates
into the inmost being of man, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart,
and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised. He infuses new qualities into
the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one
willing, and the stubborn one compliant; he activates and strengthens the will
so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good
deeds.
第十二条、重生是超自然工作
这就是重生，新创造，从死里复活，这在圣经中是如此清晰的教导，这是上帝在我们里面工作，不用我们的帮助。这决不是单单通过外在的教导，或道德劝勉就能完成的，也不是上帝做完祂的部份之后，还要看人的能力能否使他自己重生回转。这是一件完全超自然的工作，极有能力、极为奥秘、令人极其惊喜、无法述说 ；从所需要的能力而言绝不亚于创造万物与从死里复活，正如行这事的上帝所默示的圣经教导的那样。因此，每个心中蒙上帝如此奇妙动工的人都重生了并且真的产生了信心，这重生是确实的、不会失败的、有效的。因此，这更新的意志不但被上帝激活、推动，也因为被上帝激活，它自己也是主动活跃的了。因此，人领受了上帝这恩典，也可以正确的说是他自己相信和悔改。
Article
12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work
And
this is the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from the dead, and the
making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which God works in us
without our help. But this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching,
by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God has done his
work, it remains in man’s power whether or not to be reborn or converted.
Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work, one that is at the same time most
powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which
is not lesser than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the
dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches. As a result,
all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly,
unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe. And then the will,
now renewed, is not only activated and motivated by God but in being activated
by God is also itself active. For this reason, man himself, by that grace which
he has received, is also rightly said to believe and to repent.
第十三条、重生不可透知的方式
在今生，信徒不能完全领悟这工作发生的方式。虽然如此，他们知道并经历到，自己是蒙上帝这样的恩典，才能真心相信、爱主的。
Article
13: The Incomprehensible Way of Regeneration
In
this life believers cannot fully understand the way this work occurs;
meanwhile, they rest content with knowing and experiencing that by this grace
of God they do believe with the heart and love their Savior.
第十四条、上帝赐信心的方式
因此，信心是上帝的礼物，不是说上帝把信心提供给人，让人自己来选择，而是说上帝真的赐人信心，将它吹进、注入到人里面。这信心是礼物也不是说上帝仅将相信的能力赐给人，然后期待人自己选择同意，就是相信的行动；说信心是礼物，意思是说，那使人立志行事，甚至在众人里面行作万事的主，不但在人里面生发想要相信的意志，也产生相信本身的行动。
Article
14: The Way God Gives Faith
In
this way, therefore, faith is a gift of God, not in the sense that it is
offered by God for man to choose, but that it is in actual fact bestowed on
man, breathed and infused into him. Nor is it a gift in the sense that God
bestows only the potential to believe, but then awaits assent — the act of
believing — from man’s choice; rather, it is a gift in the sense that he who
works both willing and acting and, indeed, works all things in all people
produces in man both the will to believe and the belief itself.
第十五条、对上帝恩典的回应
上帝不欠这恩典给任何人。人既然没有先给祂什么，祂为何会亏欠呢？对于除了罪恶和虚伪之外一无所有的人，上帝有什么亏欠他的呢？因此，领受上帝恩典的人是亏欠了上帝，并永远单单感谢祂。那些不领受这恩典的人，要么完全不重视这些属灵之事，满足于自己的现况，要么是在自我安全感中愚昧的夸口自己所没有的。此外，那些外表承认信仰、改进生命的人，我们必须遵照使徒的榜样，当我们提到他们的时候要用最大的善意，因为我们不知道人内心深处的隐秘。至于其他尚未蒙福音呼召的人，我们要为他们向上帝祷告，因为祂是使无变有的上帝。但是，我们绝不自傲比他们强，好像我们与别人不同是我们自己的功劳一样。
Article
15: Responses to God’s Grace
God
does not owe this grace to anyone. For what could God owe to one who has
nothing to give that can be paid back? Indeed, what could God owe to one who
has nothing of his own to give but sin and falsehood? Therefore the person who
receives this grace owes and gives eternal thanks to God alone; the person who
does not receive it either does not care at all about these spiritual things
and is satisfied with himself in his condition, or else in self-assurance
foolishly boasts about having something which he lacks. Furthermore, following
the example of the apostles, we are to think and to speak in the most favorable
way about those who outwardly profess their faith and better their lives, for
the inner chambers of the heart are unknown to us. But for others who have not
yet been called, we are to pray to the God who calls things that do not exist
as though they did. In no way, however, are we to pride ourselves as better
than they, as though we had distinguished ourselves from them.
第十六条、重生的果效
但是，正如人并未因着堕落停止为人，而依旧拥有智力与意志；正如罪虽然散布全人类，但并未废除人性，而是使其败坏，在灵性上杀死它；同样，这重生的恩典在人里面工作并非仿佛人是石头，也没有废除人的意志和他各种属性，也没有强迫不甘愿的意志屈服，而是在灵里复苏、医治、改正，并且甘甜的、却有大能的折服人的意志。因此，过去那肉体的悖逆和抵挡完全掌权的地方，现在则是圣灵生发的真诚的顺服开始掌权。这才是我们的意志真正的、属灵的恢复和自由。因此，除非主在我们里面动工，人不能指望靠自己的自由选择脱离堕落的败坏，就是人当初从无罪的状态自甘陷入的败坏。
Article
16: Regeneration’s Effect
However,
just as by the fall man did not cease to be man, endowed with intellect and
will, and just as sin, which has spread through the whole human race, did not
abolish the nature of the human race but distorted and spiritually killed it,
so also this divine grace of regeneration does not act in people as if they
were blocks and stones; nor does it abolish the will and its properties or
coerce a reluctant will by force, but spiritually revives, heals, reforms, and
— in a manner at once pleasing and powerful — bends it back. As a result, a
ready and sincere obedience of the Spirit now begins to prevail where before
the rebellion and resistance of the flesh were completely dominant. It is in
this that the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consists.
Thus, if the marvelous Maker of every good thing were not dealing with us, man
would have no hope of getting up from his fall by his free choice, by which he
plunged himself into ruin when still standing upright.
第十七条、上帝在重生中使用媒介
正如上帝藉着大能的工作，生发并维持我们自然的肉身生命，但这并不排除，反而需要使用媒介，上帝以祂无限的恩慈与善良，希望用这些媒介来运用祂的大能。同样，前面提到的上帝重生我们的超自然工作，也决不排除或取消使用福音，这福音在上帝伟大的智慧中被定为重生的种子、灵魂的食粮。因此，使徒们以及之后的教师们以敬虔的方式教导人们上帝的这个恩典，使上帝得荣耀，使一切自高的降卑，又不忽略同时通过福音中圣洁的劝诫，用圣道、圣礼、和纪律管教保守上帝的子民。照样，即使是今天，上帝按着祂的美意紧密联合的，在教会里的教师或受教者，都决不可以将它们分开。既然恩典是通过劝诫被赐下，那么我们越甘心乐意履行责任时，通常上帝在我们里面工作的益处就越明显，他的工作也更好的进展。愿一切救恩媒介和果效的荣耀都归给上帝，直到永远，阿们。
Article
17: God’s Use of Means in Regeneration
Just
as the almighty work of God by which he brings forth and sustains our natural
life does not rule out but requires the use of means, by which God, according
to his infinite wisdom and goodness, has wished to exercise his power, so also
the aforementioned supernatural work of God by which he regenerates us in no
way rules out or cancels the use of the gospel, which God in his great wisdom
has appointed to be the seed of regeneration and the food of the soul. For this
reason, the apostles and the teachers who followed them taught the people in a
godly manner about this grace of God, to give him the glory and to humble all
pride, and yet did not neglect meanwhile to keep the people, by means of the
holy admonitions of the gospel, under the administration of the Word, the
sacraments, and discipline. So even today it is out of the question that the
teachers or those taught in the church should presume to test God by separating
what he in his good pleasure has wished to be closely joined together. For
grace is bestowed through admonitions, and the more readily we perform our
duty, the more lustrous the benefit of God working in us usually is and the
better his work advances. To him alone, both for the means and for their saving
fruit and effectiveness, all glory is owed forever. Amen.
反对错误教导
Rejection
of the Errors
在阐明正统教义之后，本总会反对以下的错误教导︰
Having
set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those
错误教导之一
不应该说原罪本身就足以定罪全体人类，或足以使全体人类当受今世与永远的刑罚。
I.
Who teach that, properly speaking, it cannot be said that original sin in
itself is enough to condemn the whole human race or to warrant temporal and
eternal punishments.
反对理由：这与使徒保罗的教导相反︰“罪是从一人入了世界，死又是从罪来的；于是死就临到众人，因为众人都犯了罪”（罗五12）；“原来审判是由一人而定罪”（罗五16）；“罪的工价乃是死”（罗六23）。
For
they contradict the apostle when he says: “Sin entered the world through one
man, and death through sin, and in this way death passed on to all men because
all sinned” (Rom. 5:12); also: “The guilt followed one sin and brought
condemnation” (Rom. 5:16); likewise: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).
错误教导之二
人起初第一次受造时，属灵的恩赐或美好的本性与美德，如善良、圣洁、公义等，都不在人的意志里，所以当人堕落时，这些也没有与人的意志分离。
II.
Who teach that the spiritual gifts or the good dispositions and virtues such as
goodness, holiness, and righteousness could not have resided in man’s will when
he was first created, and therefore could not have been separated from the will
at the fall.
反对理由：这教导与保罗的描述冲突，使徒在《以弗所书》四章24节用公义和圣洁来描述上帝的形像。这些当然在意志里。
For
this conflicts with the apostle’s description of the image of God in Ephesians
4:24, where he portrays the image in terms of righteousness and holiness, which
definitely reside in the will
错误教导之三
当人在属灵上死亡时，属灵的恩赐并没有与人的意志分离，因为意志本身从未被败坏，只是被思想的昏暗和情感的放荡所阻碍；一旦这些阻碍被挪去，意志就可以按照它原来的自由能力运行，即当各样的善摆在它面前时，意志本身就可以决定、选择，或是不决定、不选择。
III.
Who teach that in spiritual death the spiritual gifts have not been separated
from man’s will, since the will in itself has never been corrupted but only
hindered by the darkness of the mind and the unruliness of the emotions, and
since the will is able to exercise its innate free capacity once these
hindrances are removed, which is to say, it is able of itself to will or choose
whatever good is set before it — or else not to will or choose it.
反对理由：这是人的发明，也是错误的教导，企图高举自由选择的能力，违反先知耶立米的话︰“人心比万物都诡诈，坏到极处”（耶十七9）；和保罗的话︰“我们从前也都在他们中间，放纵肉体的私欲 ，随着肉体和心中所喜好的去行”（弗二3）。
This
is a novel idea and an error and has the effect of elevating the power of free
choice, contrary to the words of Jeremiah the prophet: “The heart itself is
deceitful above all things and wicked” (Jer. 17:9); and of the words of the
apostle: “All of us also lived among them” (the sons of disobedience) “at one
time in the passions of our flesh, following the will of our flesh and
thoughts” (Eph. 2:3).
错误教导之四
未重生之人并没有真正或完全死在罪中，也没有完全失去寻求属灵之善的能力，而是还能饥渴慕义，追求生命，还能献上上帝喜悦的忧伤痛悔之心的祭。
IV.
Who teach that unregenerate man is not strictly or totally dead in his sins or
deprived of all capacity for spiritual good but is able to hunger and thirst
for righteousness or life and to offer the sacrifice of a broken and contrite
spirit which is pleasing to God.
反对理由：这违反圣经清楚的见证：“你们死在过犯罪恶之中”（弗二1, 5）；“人终日所思想的尽都是恶”（创六5；八21）。
此外，只有那些重生的、被上帝称为有福的人，才会渴望脱离罪恶的愁苦、寻求生命，以痛悔的心为祭物献向上帝（诗五十一17；太五6）。
For
these views are opposed to the plain testimonies of Scripture: “You were dead
in your transgressions and sins” (Eph. 2:1, 5); “The imagination of the
thoughts of man’s heart is only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5; 8:21). Besides,
to hunger and thirst for deliverance from misery and for life, and to offer God
the sacrifice of a broken spirit is characteristic only of the regenerate and
of those called blessed (Ps. 51:17; Matt. 5:6).
错误教导之五
败坏的自然人，能善用普通恩典（他们用这个词表示自然之光）或是那些堕落后仍保留在他里面的恩赐，而能逐渐得到更大的恩典——就是福音或得救的恩典——和拯救本身。这样看来，上帝表明祂愿意将基督启示给每个人，因为祂已经将得到基督、信心、悔改的必经方法充份而有效地提供给每个人。
V.
Who teach that corrupt and natural man can make such good use of common grace
(by which they mean the light of nature) or of the gifts remaining after the
fall that he is able thereby gradually to obtain a greater grace — evangelical
or saving grace — as well as salvation itself; and that in this way God, for
his part, shows himself ready to reveal Christ to all people, since he provides
to all, to a sufficient extent and in an effective manner, the means necessary
for the revealing of Christ, for faith, and for repentance.
反对理由：因为圣经和历史的经验都证明，这种说法不是事实：“他将他的道指示雅各，将他的律例典章指示以色列。别国他都没有这样待过；至于他的典章，他们向来没有知道”（诗一四七19-20）；“他在从前的世代，任凭万国各行其道”（徒十四16）；“圣灵既然禁止他们（保罗和他的同工）在亚西亚讲道，他们就经过弗吕家，加拉太一带地方。到了每西亚的边界，他们想要往庇推尼去，耶稣的灵却不许”（徒十六6-7）。
For
Scripture, not to mention the experience of all ages, testifies that this is
false: “He makes known his words to Jacob, his statutes and his laws to Israel;
he has done this for no other nation, and they do not know his laws” (Ps.
147:19-20); “In the past God let all nations go their own way” (Acts 14:16);
“They” (Paul and his companions)” were kept by the Holy Spirit from speaking
God’s word in Asia;” and “When they had come to Mysia, they tried to go to
Bithynia, but the Spirit would not allow them to” (Acts 16:6-7).
错误教导之六
在人真正的回转中，上帝并没有把新的品质、性情或恩赐放在人的意志里；因此，使我们回转并被称为“信徒”的信心（或相信的行动）并不是上帝注入的一种品质或恩赐，而只是人的行动，它不能被称为礼物或恩赐，除非我们讲的使我们获得信心的能力。
VI.
Who teach that in the true conversion of man new qualities, dispositions, or
gifts cannot be infused or poured into his will by God, and indeed that the
faith [or believing] by which we first come to conversion and from which we
receive the name “believers” is not a quality or gift infused by God, but only
an act of man, and that it cannot be called a gift except in respect to the
power of attaining faith.
反对理由：这与圣经相反，因为圣经说，上帝的确把信心、顺服的新品质以及对祂爱的经历放到我们的心里︰“我要将我的律法放在他们里面，写在他们心上”（耶三十一33）；“我要将水浇灌口渴的人，将河浇灌干旱之地，我要将我的灵浇灌你的后裔”（赛四四3）；“所赐给我们的圣灵，将上帝的爱浇灌在我们心里”（罗五5）。这也与教会一贯的作法相反，就是用先知的话祷告︰“求你使我回转，我便回转”（耶三十一18）。
For
these views contradict the Holy Scriptures, which testify that God does infuse
or pour into our hearts the new qualities of faith, obedience, and the experiencing
of his love: “I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts”
(Jer. 31:33); “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry
ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring” (Isa. 44:3); “The love of
God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to
us” (Rom. 5:5). They also conflict with the continuous practice of the Church,
which prays with the prophet: “Convert me, Lord, and I shall be converted”
(Jer. 31:18).
错误教导之七
我们藉以回转的恩典只不过是一种温和的劝说，或者像有人解释的，上帝在人回转中的行动方式是最高尚、最符合人性的，是在于劝说，并且单靠这种道德劝说的恩典，就足以使属血气的人变为属灵的人；上帝只通过这种道德劝说，产生意志上同意。上帝这样工作的功效超过撒旦的工作在于上帝应许的是永恒的益处，而撒旦只承诺暂时的益处。
VII.
Who teach that the grace by which we are converted to God is nothing but a
gentle persuasion, or(as others explain it) that the way of God’s acting in
man’s conversion that is most noble and suited to human nature is that which
happens by persuasion, and that nothing prevents this grace of moral suasion
even by itself from making natural men spiritual; indeed, that God does not
produce the assent of the will except in this manner of moral suasion, and that
the effectiveness of God’s work by which it surpasses the work of Satan
consists in the fact that God promises eternal benefits while Satan promises
temporal ones.
反对理由：这完全是伯拉纠主义的思想，与整本圣经冲突。圣经在承认劝说之外，在《以西结书》告诉我们，圣灵在人回转时还有一种更有力、更神圣的行动方式︰“我也要赐给你们一个新心，将新灵放在你们里面。又从你们的肉体中除掉石心，赐给你们肉心”（结三十六26）。
For
this teaching is entirely Pelagian and contrary to the whole of Scripture,
which recognizes besides this persuasion also another, far more effective and
divine way in which the Holy Spirit acts in man’s conversion. As Ezekiel 36:26
puts it: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; and I will
remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh….”
错误教导之八
上帝在使人重生时，并不是说用祂无所不能的力量，强而有力、万无一失地折服人的意志，使人相信而回转，而是说上帝用来使人回转的一切恩典都运行完毕之后，人还是可以，并且的确时常抵挡上帝与圣灵重生他的计划和旨意，以至于他可以完全阻止他自己的重生。所以一个人得重生与否，还是在于人的能力。
VIII.
Who teach that God in regenerating man does not bring to bear that power of his
omnipotence whereby he may powerfully and unfailingly bend man’s will to faith
and conversion, but that even when God has accomplished all the works of grace
which he uses for man’s conversion, man nevertheless can, and in actual fact
often does, so resist God and the Spirit in their intent and will to regenerate
him, that man completely thwarts his own rebirth; and, indeed, that it remains
in his own power whether or not to be reborn.
反对理由：这种说法无异于否认上帝的恩典在我们回转时有效，又使全能上帝的工作听命于人的意志，与使徒的教导相反︰“知道他向我们这信的人所显的能力，是何等浩大”（弗一19）；“又用大能成就你们一切所羡慕的良善”（帖后一11）；“上帝的 上帝能已将一切关乎生命和虔敬的事赐给我们”（彼后一3）。
For
this does away with all effective functioning of God’s grace in our conversion
and subjects the activity of Almighty God to the will of man; it is contrary to
the apostles, who teach that “we believe by virtue of the effective working of
God’s mighty strength” (Eph. 1:19), and that “God fulfills the undeserved good
will of his kindness and the work of faith in us with power” (2 Thess. 1:11),
and likewise that “his divine power has given us everything we need for life
and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).
错误教导之九
恩典与自由选择都是一部份的原因，二者合作才使人开始回转。并且从因果关系的次序来讲，恩典不在意志有效行动以先；换句话说，上帝不会在人的意志本身主动推动、决定自身之前有效地帮助人的意志进行回转。
IX.
Who teach that grace and free choice are concurrent partial causes which
cooperate to initiate conversion, and that grace does not precede — in the
order of causality — the effective influence of the will; that is to say, that
God does not effectively help man’s will to come to conversion before man’s
will itself motivates and determines itself.
反对理由：古代教会很早以前就定罪伯拉纠主义这种教导，根据是使徒保罗的话︰“不在乎那定意的，也不在乎那奔跑的，只在乎发怜悯的上帝”（罗九16）；“使你与人不同的是谁呢？ 你有什么不是领受的呢”（林前四7）；“因为你们立志行事，都是上帝在你们心里运行，为要成就的美意”（腓二13）。
For
the early church already condemned this doctrine long ago in the Pelagians, on
the basis of the words of the apostle: “It does not depend on man’s willing or
running but on God’s mercy” (Rom. 9:16); also: “Who makes you different from
anyone else?” and “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7);
likewise: “It is God who works in you to will and act according to his good
pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).